Listen, we love Damian Lillard. Lillard finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. That set the stage for Lillard to answer a pair of Thomas free throws by drawing a phantom foul call on the Kings triggerman that earned him three freebies of his own, put… (more)ting the Blazers who had trailed by 12 just 54 seconds earlier within a single bucket of all-even. He’s our guy: a tough, smart, clutch player that is only in his second year but is already teaming with LaMarcus Aldridge to form a pretty tough Blazers team no one expected to be doing so well this season. I love the turn of phrase that Eye on Basketball's Royce Young used in highlighting the play "reverse poster" seems a perfect descriptor for a shot-blocker not only meeting a dunker at the summit, but erasing the shot so forcefully that it flies straight back out of the offensive player's hand and flies nearly out to the 3-point line.

It came in the midst of a 110-94 loss that marked their fifth straight defeat, and its impact was promptly nullified by a (nearly) equal and opposite reaction by Nicolas Batum on the other end, but if we can find it in our hearts to shout out Damian Lil…